Technology

Microsoft's latest roadmap for the Edge browser spells out when developers will tackle some of its many not-yet-coded features, but most remain in the planning or even in-discussion phases, leaving users uncertain when functionality would be implemented.

Typically, Microsoft refreshes a "Feedback Summary" for Edge once a week, when it lists what impending features have met the "Planning" milestone and when — as in which month — each will supposedly make it into the browser.

Microsoft solicits feedback from participants in the Microsoft Edge Insider preview program, which, like its Windows equivalent, asks users to test early versions.

At the top of Edge's roadmap are a pair of sync issues, both set as "Planned for February." One is dedicated to cleaning up existent problems, including duplicate bookmarks (still called "Favorites" in Edge, a term long used by Microsoft for its antique Internet Explorer); the other will enable synchronization of browser add-ons between copies of Edge on multiple devices.

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We&ve been dropping into the Australian startup scene increasingly over the years as the ecosystem has been building at an increasingly faster pace, most notably at our own TechCrunch Battlefield Australia in 2017. Further evidence that the scene is growing has come recently in the shape of the Pause Fest conference in Melbourne. This event has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is fast becoming a must-attend for Aussie startups aiming for both national international attention.

I was able to drop in ‘virtually& to interview a number of those showcased in the Startup Pitch Competition, so herea run-down of some of the stand-out companies.

Medinet Australia Medinet Australia is a health tech startup aiming to make healthcare more convenient and accessible to Australians by allowing doctors to do consultations with patients via an app. Somewhat similar to apps like Babylon Health, Medinettelehealth app allows patients to obtain clinical advice from a GP remotely; access prescriptions and have medications delivered; access pathology results; directly email their medical certificate to their employer; and access specialist referrals along with upfront information about specialists such as their fees, waitlist, and patient experience. They&ve raised $3M in Angel financing and are looking for institutional funding in due course. Given Australiavast distances, Medinet is well-placed to capitalize on the shift of the population towards much more convenient telehealth apps. (1st Place Winner)

Everty Everty allows companies to easily manage, monitor and monetize Electric Vehicle charging stations. But this isn&t about infrastructure. Instead, they link up workplaces and accounting systems to the EV charging network, thus making it more like a &Salesforce for EV charging&. Itavailable for both commercial and home charging tracking. Italso raised an Angel round and is poised to raise further funding. (2nd Place Winner)

AI On Spectrum Ita sad fact that people with Autism statistically tend to die younger, and unfortunately, the suicide rate is much higher for Autistic people. &Ai on Spectrum& takes an accessible approach in helping autistic kids and their families find supportive environments and feel empowered. The game encourages Autism sufferers to explore their emotional side and arms them with coping strategies when times get tough, applying AI and machine learning in the process to assist the user. (3rd Place Winner)

HiveKeeper Professional bee-keepers need a fast, reliable, easy-to-use record keeper for their bees and this startup does just that. But italso developing a software+sensor technology to give beekeepers more accurate analytics, allowing them to get an early-warning about issues and problems. Their technology could even, in the future, be used to alert for coming bushfires by sensing the changed behavior of the bees. (Hacker Exchange Additional Winner)

Relectrify Rechargeable batteries for things like cars can be re-used again, but the key to employing them is being able to extend their lives. Relectrify says its battery control software can unlock the full performance from every cell, increasing battery cycle life. It will also reduce storage costs by providing AC output without needing a battery inverter for both new and 2nd-life batteries. Its advanced battery management system combines power and electric monitoring to rapidly the check which are stronger cells and which are weaker making it possible to get as much as 30% more battery life, as well as deploying &2nd life storage&. So far, they have a project with Nissan and American Electric Power and have raised a Series A of $4.5M. (SingularityU Additional Winner)

Gabriel Sadly, seniors and patients can contract bedsores if left too long. People can even die from bedsores. Furthermore, hospitals can end up in litigation over the issue. Whatneeded is a technology that can prevent this, as well as predicting where on a patientbody might be worst affected. Thatwhat Gabriel has come up with: using multi-modal technology to prevent and detect both falls and bedsores. Its passive monitoring technology is for the home or use in hospitals and consists of a resistive sheet with sensors connecting to a system which can understand the pressure on a bed. It has FDA approval, is patent-pending and is already working in some Hawaiin hospitals. Itso far raised $2m in Angel and is now raising money.

Herea taste of Pause Fest:

Pilot fish is just starting in IT at this big pharmaceutical company, and he gets a call from an executive admin with a problem.

&She said her monitor had mysteriously gone blank and she was afraid she had lost what she was working on,& says fish. &I told her not to touch anything and I would be right over.&

When fish arrives on the executive floor, the admin is talking on the phone, but she points to her PC for fish to take a look.

Fish can see that the computerpower light is on, but the monitorisn&t. A quick scan of the back of the machine makes it clear that the video cable is screwed in tightly on both ends.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the phone conversation, fish asks the admin to slide back so he can check under her desk.

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Esports, video games and the innovations that enable them now occupy a central space in the cultural and commercial fabric of the tech world.

For the investment firm Bitkraft Esports Ventures, the surge in interest means a vast opportunity to invest in the businesses that continue to reshape entertainment and develop technologies which have implications far beyond consoles and controllers.

Increasingly, investors are willing to come along for the ride. The firm, which launched its first fund in 2017 with a $40 million target, is close to wrapping up fundraising on a roughly $140 million new investment vehicle, according to a person with knowledge of the firmplans.

Through a spokesperson, Bitkraft confirmed that over the course of 2019 it had invested $50 million into 25 investments across esports and digital entertainment, 21 of which were led by the firm.

The new, much larger, fund for Bitkraft is coming as the firmthesis begins to encompass technologies and services that extend far beyond gaming and esports — although they&re coming from a similar place.

Along with its new pool of capital, the firm has also picked up a new partner in Moritz Baier-Lentz, a former Vice President in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs and the number one ranked esports player of BlizzardDiablo II PC game in 2003.

While at Goldman, Baier-Lentz worked on the $67 billion Dell acquisition of EMC and the $34 billion acquisition of RedHat by IBM.

The numbers in venture capital — and especially in gaming — aren&t quite at that scale, but there are increasingly big bets being made in and around the games industry as investors recognize its potential. There were roughly $2 billion worth of investments made into the esports industry in 2019, less than half of the whopping $4.5 billion which was invested the prior year, according to the Esports Observer.

As Ethan Kurzweil of Bessemer Venture Partners told TechCrunch last year:

&Gaming is now one of the largest forms of entertainment in the United States, with more than $100B+ spent yearly, surpassing other major mediums like television. Gaming is a new form of social network where you can spend time just hanging with friends/family even outside of the constructs of ‘winning the game.&&

Over $100 billion is nothing to sneer at in a growing category — especially as the definition of what qualifies as an esports investment expands to include ancillary industries and a broader thesis.

For Bitkraft, that means investments which are &born in Internet and gaming, but they have applications beyond that,& says Baier-Lentz. &What we really see on the broader level and what we think bout as a team is this emergence of synthetic reality. [That&s] where we see the future and the growth and the return for our investors.&

Bitkraftnewest partner, Moritz Baier-Lentz

Baier-Lentz calls this synthetic reality an almost seamless merger of the physical and digital world. It encompasses technologies enabling virtual reality and augmented reality and the games and immersive or interactive stories that will be built around them.

&Moritz shares our culture, our passion, and our ambition—and comes with massive investment experience from one of the worldfinest investment firms,& said Jens Hilgers, the founding general partner of BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, in a statement. &Furthermore, he is a true core gamer with a strong competitive nature, making him the perfect fit in our diverse global BITKRAFT team. With his presence in New York, we also expand our geographical coverage in one of todaymost exciting and upcoming cities for gaming and esports.&

It helps that, while at Goldman, Baier-Lentz helped develop the firmglobal esports and gaming practice. Every other day he was fielding calls around how to invest in the esports phenomenon from private clients and big corporations, he said.

Interestingly for an esports-focused investment firm, the one area where Bitkraft won&t invest is in Esports teams. instead the focus is on everything that can enable gaming. &We take a broader approach and we make investments in things that thrive on the backbone of a healthy esports industry,& said Baier-Lentz.

In addition to a slew of investments made into various game development studios, the company has also backed Spatial, which creates interactive audio environments; Network Next, a developer of private optimized high speed networks for gaming; and Lofelt, a haptic technology developers.

&Games are the driver of technological innovation and games have prepared us for human machine interaction,& says Baier-Lentz. &We see games and gaming content as the driver of a broader wave of synthetic reality. That would span gaming, sports, and interactive media. [But] we don&t only see it as entertainment… There are economic and social benefits here that are opened up once we transcend between the physical and the digital. I almost see it as the evolution of the internet.&

One of the questions I frequently ask startup founders is how much they&re spending on security. Unsurprisingly, everyone has a different answer.

Startups and small companies are invariably faced with the prospect that they&re either not spending enough or are spending too much on something thathard to quantify in terms of value. Ita tough sell to sink money into an effort to stop something that might one day happen, particularly for bootstrapped startups that must make every cent count — yet we&re told security is a crucial investment for a companyfuture.

Sorry to break it to you, but there is no easy answer.

The reality is that each company is different and there is no single recommended dollar amount to spend. But itabsolutely certain that some investment is required. We know because we see a lot of security incidents here at TechCrunch — hacks, breaches and especially data exposures, often a result of human error.

We spoke to three security experts — a head of security, a security entrepreneur and a cybersecurity fellow — to understand the questions facing startups.

Know and understand your threat model

Every company has a different threat model — by that, we mean identifying risks and possible ways of attack before they happen. Companies that store tons of user data may be a greater target than companies that don&t. Each firm needs to evaluate which kind of risks they face and identify weaknesses.